Method of and apparatus for spreading comminuted material such as top soil and top soil containing seed and/or fertilizer



Jan. 7, 1958 c. o. FINN 2,818,682

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR SPREADING COMMINUTED MATERIAL SUCH AS TOPSOIL AND TOP SOIL CONTAINING SEED AND/OR FERTILIZER Filed March 17, 1954METHOD F AND APPARATUS FOR SPREADING COTED MATERIAL SUCH AS TOP SOIL ANDT01? SOZL CONTAINING SEED AND/0R FERTILIZER Charles 0. Finn, Cincinnati,Ohio, assignor to The Finn Equipment Company, Cincinnati, Ohio, acorporation of Ohio Application March 17, 1954, Serial No. 416,812

Claims. (Cl. 47-58) This invention relates to a method of and apparatusfor replenishing bare ground with top soil, with top soil and seed, orwith top soil, seed and fertilizer.

Modern road-building operations result in barren banks and areas oneither or both sides of the road. Heretofore, it has been difficult andcostly to induce sufficient growth of grass and vegetation on thesebarren areas, to protect them against erosion by wind and rain.

It is an object of this invention to provide a method whereby barrenground areas and banks along roadsides may be replenished with fertilesoil, or with fertilized soil and seed, at a much higher rate of areacoverage per man day, and at a much lower cost per unit of area covered.

Another object of the invention is to provide a method whereby barrenground areas are, so to speak, sprayed with top soil, or top soilcontaining seed, or top soil containing seed and fertilizer, in avehicle of air over the barren areas, and whereby the soil, or soil andseed, or soil, seed and fertilizer may be wetted with water to suchextent that dust is laid and the soil, the soil and fertilizer, or thesoil, fertilizer and seed, as the case may be, are caused to stickandadhere to the areas covered.

A still further object of the invention is to provide apparatus wherebythe foregoing method may be performed, the apparatus being propelledalong the areas to be replenished, so that the areas may be continuouslycovered with the soil, the soil and seed, or the soil and seed andfertilizer, as the case may be.

Other objects of the invention will be apparent to those of ordinaryskill in the art to which the invention pertains, from the followingdescription taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a view in side elevation of apparatus arranged andconstructed in accordance with an embodiment of the invention, and bymeans of which the method of the invention may be practiced;

Fig. 2 is a rear-end view of the apparatus shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a view of a portion of the apparatus, as seen looking in thedirection of arrows III--III of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 4 is a view in section, taken on line IVIV of Fig. 1.

In Fig. 1 of the drawing is illustrated a machine 1 mounted on wheels 2,and which may be coupled to the rear of a truck 3 and transported alongroadways or barren soil areas to be replenished with top soil, top soiland seed, or top soil, seed and fertilizer, as the case may be. Themachine 1 includes a blower 4 having an outlet 5, that is provided witha discharge pipe 6. Pipe 6 is connected to the outlet 5 by means of aswivel elbow joint 7. The pipe 6 may be rotated about the axis of theoutlet 5, or raised and lowered while being rotated, by means of a lever8, pivotally mounted on a fulcrum 9 and supported by a rod or stand 10.One end of lever 8 is connected by a link 11 to the pipe 6, as shown.The other end of the lever 8 is provided with a handle 12, by

ice

means of which an operator, standing on a platform 13, may swing thedischarge pipe 6 around, and at the same time raise or lower the same,as required.

A housing or duct 14 is connected to the inlet of the blower 4, toprovide for admitting top soil, or a mixture of top soil and seed, or amixture of top soil, seed and fertilizer into the suction of the fan orblower. Top soil, or a mixture of top soil and seed, or a mixture of topsoil, seed and fertilizer, is delivered to the suction of the fan intothe duct or housing 4, by means of a conveyor 17.

Conveyor 17, as illustrated, comprises an endless chain 18 operatingover sprocket wheels 19 and 20, and journaled on shafts 21 and 22,respectively, that are supported by the framework of the conveyor, asshown. The chain 18 is provided, at spaced points, with pusher blades 23that carry the top soil, or the top soil, seed and fertilizer, as thecase may be, to the intake of the fan. The top and bottom reaches of thechain conveyor operate in closed housings 25 and 26 which confine thematerial carried by the conveyor, and prevent it from falling out of thesame.

The comminuted top soil, or a mixture of comminuted top soil and seed,or a mixture of comminuted top soil, seed and fertilizer, is supplied tothe conveyor by a hopper 28, mounted to discharge into the top reach ofthe conveyor at a point adjacent the sprocket wheel 19.

The blower may be driven through a belt 29 by a prime mover, such as aninternal combustion engine 30, mounted at the rear of the machine 1. Themotor 30 may also be utilized to drive the conveyor chain. For thispurpose a shaft 31 is provided, on which is a sheave or pulley 32coupled to the motor sheave or pulley by a belt 33. The shaft, as shown,extends rearwardly to a point under shaft 22. Shaft 31 is provided witha sheave or pulley 34, that is coupled by a belt 35 to a sheave orpulley 36 on shaft 22.

The top soil, or a mixture of top soil and seed, or a mixture of topsoil, seed and fertilizer, may be shoveled by workmen from the truck 3into the hopper 28. As the truck propels machine 1 along the areas to becovered, the conveyor propels the mixture into the intake of the fan,Where it is gathered into the swiftly moving air as a vehicle, deliveredthrough duct 6 and discharged at the outlet 37.

In order to lay the dust of the soil and to insure that it will adhereto the barren soil to be covered, means are provided for wetting thesoil, the seed and the fertilizer as it leaves the outlet 37. The meansindicated comprises a header 40 having discharge nozzles 41, 42 and 43,spaced as shown, so as to insure sufficient and adequate wetting of thetop soil and the other components thereof. As the soil and itscomponents are wetted, the dust is laid and suflicient moisture is addedto the soil and the other components, if any, to insure that the soilwill stick to the barren ground areas upon which it is directed, therebypreventing it from being blown away by the wind.

The header 40 may be supplied through a supply pipe 44. The supply pipe44 is connected to a water supply tank 46, and the water is pumpedthrough pipe 44 to the nozzles by means of a pump, not shown.

As shown in Fig. l, the conveyor 17 and the hopper 28 may be raised orlowered about the shaft 22 as a pivot. When the hopper is in thefull-line position, the machine 1 may be used to spread top soil, or topsoil enriched with fertilizer and containing seed.

When the conveyor and the hopper 2.8 are raised to the broken-lineposition shown in Fig. 1, the machine may be used to lay fibre mats overthe areas which have been seeded and top soiled, and the mats caused to3 stick by means of an adhesive, as disclosed in my copendingapplication, Serial No. 373,563, filed August 11,

As shown in Fig. 4, housings 25 and 26, for the upper and lowerreachesof the conveyor chains, may be formed of metal or other material.The upper housing 25 consists of a member of U-shape in section, withside flanges to which a cover 46 may be bolted. The bottom 47 may, ifdesired, be provided with a wood liner or made of wood to minimize therate of wear by the chain sliding over it. The cover 46 is removable sothat the chain may be inspected: or lodged soil removed.

The bottom housing 26 is substantially the inverse of the upper housing.The member of inverted U-shape is placed on top of a bottom plate 48'and bolted at the flanges, as shown.

In accordance with the foregoing, it will be apparent that the method ofthe invention consists in applying finelycomminuted soil, or a mixtureof finely-comminuted soil and seed, or soil, seed and fertilizer into aswiftly movthe wetting of the soil, or soil, seed and fertilizer as itis directed into the air over the ground areas, to prevent its blowingaway as dust and to insure that it will stick to the areas to becovered.

To further insure that the top soil, and the top soil or seed andfertilizer, as the case may be, will be retained in place for a timesufiicient to allow the seed to sprout and grow, the soil so laid on thebarren areas may be covered with a fibre mat, as disclosed in myaforesaid copending application.

Having thus described the invention, it will be apparent to thoseskilled in this art that various modifications and changes may be madein the illustrated embodiments, without departing from either the spiritor the scope of the invention.

Therefore, what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by LettersPatent is:

1. In a method of spreading a mixture of top soil, seed and fertilizer,that consists in developing a confined stream of swiftly moving air as avehicle, introducing a mixture of comminuted top soil, seed andfertilizer into said stream, directing said mixture, while suspended inthe air stream, over the ground with a sweeping motion and, while sosuspended, spraying water into the same, thereby to settle dust andcause the mixture to lie on the ground surface upon which it isdirected.

2. In a method of spreading top soil and seeding the same on groundareas, that consists in providing a duct having a discharge, passingswiftly moving air through the duct, introducing a mixture offinely-comminuted soil and seed, into said duct, to be carried by theair stream as a vehicle and discharged from the duct on ground areas tobe covermed, and spraying water into the air stream laden with soil andseed as the same leaves the duct, to thereby settle dust and cause thesoil and seed to lie on the surface upon which it is directed.

3. A method of replenishing barren ground with top soil and, at the sametime, seeding and fertilizing the $011, that consists in intimatelymixing finely-divided top soil, fertilizer and seed, providing aconfined, swiftly moving vehicle of air, introducing said mixture ofsoil, seed and fertilizer into said confined stream of air, directingsaid stream into the atmosphere over the areas to be replenished andseeded and, at the point of release into the atmosphere, injectingmoisture into the stream containing said soil, fertilizer and seed, inamounts suflicient to wet the soil, seed and fertilizer and cause thesame to stick asa coating on the ground upon which it is directed.

4. Apparatus for spreading comminuted top soil including therewith seedand fertilizer and also for laying H down a mulch of fibres on soilareas that comprises a vehicle having thereon a blower, a beateradjacent the inlet of the blower for shredding bales of fibrous materialdelivered thereto, a platform along which bales of said fibres may bemoved to the beater, a discharge pipe connected to the outlet of theblower, said pipe being provided with a swiveled joint whereby the pipemay be turned to give direction to the discharge thereof, a conveyordisposed above said platform and having its discharge end above theheater for conveying comminuted soil and mixtures of soil, seed andfertilizer to the intake of the biower, said conveyor having a hinge atits discharge end whereby it may be raised or lowered to a position inwhich comminuted material or bales of fibrous material may beselectively fed to the blower, power means on the vehicle for drivingthe conveyor and blower, means at the outlet of the duct for sprayingwater' into the materials carried by the air stream discharging fromsaid discharge pipe as the materials leave the same to thereby moistenthe soil and its components to cause the same to settle and stick on theareas covered thereby, said means at the outlet of the duct also beingprovided with means whereby an adhesive may be sprayed into the airstream to cause the particles of fibres to be spotted together and forma mat on the soil.

5. Apparatus according to claim 4, in which a hopper is provided forfeeding top soil to the conveyor.

References Cited in the file of this patent (September 1951)., articleThe September Gardener.

